Charlotte's P.O.V.

Have you ever just had the best week? I did.

Sorry to sound blunt or braggy, but I don't have to worry about the job hunt anymore. I got a call over the weekend with news that I got the job and I needed to start on the following Monday. It would be mostly introductory stuff, and that I probably wouldn't be flying for a bit, but that didn't matter to me. I have a job. I. Have. A. Job.

Screw you, mom.

Screw you, Sloan.

Screw you, me. I did it and everyone who thought I couldn't do otherwise can watch and weep because here I am.

You know, it's actually kind of funny when you were so down at one point that the biggest highlight of your month is 'Yay, now I won't be homeless.' But it is a highlight after all. It's Sunday now, and I have triple checked all of the things I need for tomorrow. I assume that if the BAU uses uniforms, that they will have one for me when I get there. However, Business clothes never hurt a girl on her first day.

The elevator is broken today. There was word of some kids wreaking havoc on Halloween, shutting down the elevator and using a knife to pry off all of the buttons. They were all wearing masks, so it's not like anyone was caught. I guess it's not the worst thing that could happen on Halloween, but seriously? Why is that something that you consciously think 'Oh hey. You see this? This is exactly what I want to do with my time right now. This is where it's at.' I've never understood that. The stairs aren't awful, but I'm on the fifth floor. Granted, in a building with twelve of them, number five is a good place to be. The stairs are empty and noise travels down them like water down a cliff. Before I had time to appreciate it, however, my shoe hits the first step and shoots out like it was a skateboard instead of a step. Damned kids. There's something on the step I can only describe as being liquid anti-friction. It's slippery and wet and clear, and whatever it is, there is a ton of it. I go flying down over each step, which has an equal amount of slippery solution on each step. I stand up, making sure I'm not covered. Miraculously, I'm pretty okay. I have a bit on my sleeve, but I can wipe it off and it can dry before I'm at work. The inside of my mouth tastes funny. I wipe off a small part from the place it gathered on my arm and smell it. Of course. Vegetable Oil. I gather myself and take a deep breath before heading down the rest of the stairs with utmost caution. I can't tell if all of the other flights of stairs have oil on them or not. I'm too busy messing with the inside of my mouth to make sure I didn't break anything. I think I just hit it on the stairs, nothing broken.

That little incident set the mood for practically the whole morning. I was so scared that I was going to miss my subway that I ran, and by the time I got there, I was ten minutes early. My jacket may have been very stylish, but I couldn't keep warm in the freezing subway draft. The entire morning felt off as soon as that happened. Until I got to my new place of employment, everything felt like a new plague. The smell on the bus, the oil, the fact that I'm pretty sure I forgot to lock my house and take my Chewie keys with me, because when I grabbed my purse to see if they were in there, I found them gone. I hoped to god they hadn't fallen out on the stairs, but I only entertained that idea for a small amount of time, because I would have felt them fall out, or at least heard them. I concluded that I left them in my home.

The BAU was emptier than it had been the day I went in previously before. I wasn't surprised. When I got the call saying that I got the job, they had warned me that my starting times were earlier than everyone else and more sporadic than others, too. I would get a text in the early hours of the morning that would tell me if I needed to pack a bag or not. If I didn't get a text, I would just be doing a diagnostics day. They told me I didn't need to worry about getting texts until the end of the first week or possibly the beginning of the second. I guess the fact that I live alone and don't have any nearby family helps me in that aspect. I bet people who do get horribly homesick.

After a few minutes of wandering the eerily empty hallways, trying to find where I think the aviation unit is, I see Shonda, looking around and finding my face. She smiles brightly with teeth whiter than pearls. She trots over to meet me and gives me a big hug, despite only talking to me once before this. She skips the customary greeting as if we've known each other for years.

"What did I tell you? Girl, what did I tell you?! You did it! I knew it. I bet it was the easiest decision they ever made. Let's get to the control room and I can introduce you to the rest of the team."

"Team?" I ask. "How many are there?"

"Don't know." She says. "20? 25? Something along those lines. C'mon! Let's go!" She smiled, and that made me smile. She made me feel like none of my day's previous trifles had existed. She made me feel appreciated, even if she didn't know who I was yet.

We found our way to the Aviation Unit's control room. A murmuring buzz fills the room as a couple dozen workers unhappily mumble to themselves and each other about how the weekend hardly existed from what they remember, and Monday wasn't supposed to come so fast. Shonda shouts over the unhappy gripe.

"Hey everybody! I have our newest recruit here. She is the replacement of Captain Blanly, and she's sure to do a great job of it. This here is Charlotte. she graduated from the US Aviation Academy near the top of her class, and I want her to feel welcome." Some people smile, some don't. Some seem more indifferent than anything. I smile. I think I'll like it here.

Spencer's P.O.V.

I wake up to my alarm today feeling better than I had at the start of the weekend. Over the course of the whole thing, I found time to carve a pumpkin that was pretty elaborate and not only had an air of creepiness, but honored the father of modern horror literature at the same time. I found time to clean up my apartment, and I found time to go through all of my mail and frame my mother's yearly Halloween letter. It's her letter that actually gave me the idea for my pumpkin. I was thinking of carving it like the kids did in the Charlie Brown Halloween special, since that's what I was watching while I carved my pumpkin, but I dismissed it as too simple. I eventually decided to open my mother's letter after ten minutes of no ideas, but that's when I found the perfect idea for my pumpkin's design.

What I found inside the letter was one of the prettiest pieces of typography she's ever made. Dark swoops of eerie cursive writing joining together not unlike the barren branches of fall under an ominous sky gather around the center object: a tiny, almost delicate looking item, sitting in the middle of the page, with a few tubes and valves protruding out. A heart. A human heart. In the haunted writing around it read the last eight words of Edgar Allen Poe's 'A Telltale Heart'

It is the beating of his hideous heart

It was beautiful, and I could tell that she really spent a lot of time on it. On the back read a note from my mom written before she sent it

For the one who contains the love of my hideous heart

Mom

It was beautiful, and I knew right then and there that I should do the same thing with my pumpkin, which was in itself, a blessing and a curse. It was noble and it made me smile at the sight of the finished masterpiece/monstrosity, but it was a very difficult thing to carve with butter knives, spoons, and the occasional corkscrew.

When I was finished, it was dark outside and I could hear nothing but people in the hallway laughing, snickering to each other. I would find out later that it was probably the teenagers who broke the elevator.

This morning though, I feel great. I don't know how long I slept because I don't remember at what time I fell asleep but I can guess that it was a little over a full twelve hours. I remember to take off all articles of my sleepwear before changing into my work clothes. And, because I was proactive the night before and set out everything I needed so I was in no rush, I took my time with choosing a book and even read one before I had to get on the subway. Today, it is not a physics book that will accompany me to work, but my copy of 'Ender's Game.'

I set out to catch my subway early, eyeing the sign that said the elevator was broken and heading towards the stairs. When I get to the landing of the stairs right outside my door, There's something on the ground. I can't really tell what it is until I picked it up. Before then, I just saw a small clump of fur. Once I pick it up, I notice that it is instead a small key chain that looks like Chewbacca from the Star Wars trilogy. When I look back at the stairs behind it, they are all covered in something shiny and slick. The stairs from my floor down aren't. They lack the shine and slipperiness for them to be covered. Maybe someone spilled something or those teens from earlier decided to slick just those stairs. I've never understood practical jokes, mainly because I've been the butt of most of them, but I can't even see how this one makes sense.

The keys attached to the furry little key chain say '5G' and I realize that they belong to my neighbor who used up most of the hot water last month. They have the one directly above me. I decide to be a good Samaritan and put their keys under their welcome mat. I almost take the first step up onto the booby trapped stairs before I realize that it might be a good idea to wait until the end of the day when the landlord has it cleaned. I mention it to the janitor I find in the lobby of the building and he nods and pushes his glasses back, not happy looking in the slightest. He seems young to be a janitor and mumbles something angry as he walks away. I guess I'd be mad too if a bunch of teens made me clean up oil on the stairs during my first week. I can only assume it's his first week.

The subway is just coming as I race down the stairs to catch it, Chewbacca safely stored in my satchel. I catch the bus and start into Ender's game, but I'm most of the way through it by the time the subway ride is over. Reading is a bit harder today because I was on the bumpy subway car.

Charlotte's P.O.V.

The Aviation Unit is weird, and that's all I know so far. Shonda showed me around the Techies, the pilots on a diagnostics day, and she showed me some pilots getting ready to take off, which were pretty seldom, considering that a lot of the flights were aimed to take off early so the teams can get as much done as possible, but the flights may happen later in the day when time change is taken into account. At one point, Shonda shows me her desk, covered in family pictures and cute little trinkets. She says I might get my own if I say awhile, but as for now, I'll probably only get a locker. They're large lockers, though. As she's digging out a paper to show me the normal rotation of certain teams with certain pilots, her watch beeps.

"Oh." She says. "You might wanna plug your ears."

"What?" Now, it's not that I wasn't focusing, or that I didn't really understand (Even though I didn't), but she had that triangle whipped out before I could even get my hands up to my ears. She began shouting at the top of her lungs, and making wild gesticulations with the triangle and metal rod. When she stopped hitting it, I could still hear the triangle.

"Sorry about that. If I don't make a big deal out of it, half of them will miss lunch. Heck, they'd hear me if they got their damn headphones out of their ears. Go get some lunch." I'm beginning to see why everyone calls her 'momma bird.'

There's a courtyard where most of the employees are eating lunch. I didn't pack one, but there's a truck nearby that sells tacos, so I figure that'll do. Once I can get around half of the ingredients that I can't identify, I just order something plain.

I find a table that doesn't have anyone there and is relatively clean and begin eating my meal. It's a beautiful courtyard, with lots of benches and tables full of people eating. I'm assuming some people eat inside, however, judging by the blond woman carrying five or six different bags of takeout. Personally, I'm going to eat outside as much as I can on days like this. D.C. snow is nuts.

You know, I am actually having a nice lunch with no one around. Back at training, nobody ever ate with me, but it doesn't bother me now. It's actually kind of peaceful

BING

A text. Hmm. I wonder wh-

BING

BING

BING

Oh dear god…

I know who's texting me before I even pick up my phone. I actually thought I was lucky. Today was actually a good day until that happened. I don't want to look at it. I really don't. However, if I don't look at it, and just shut the phone off like I want to, he'll keep texting. My data plan will be disintegrated by the time I get home. I open the messages

One reads:

Hey Char!

The next:

A little bird told me that you went in for the techie interview!

And next:

Well, did ya get it? I mean, any job for the government is intimidating, but you don't have anything to worry about

Next:

Aw, who am I kidding? You're probably on the job already. How's it hanging, techie?! :DDDDD

I have absolutely no idea why the last smiley face has five mouths, but I'm not going to asked. I'm determined to keep this conversation as short and to the point as possible

That's Captain techie to you. I was given a piloting job.

It's funny, but for some reason, he actually takes a few minutes to reply.

Really? That's amazing! I didn't even know they had one open. Way to push yourself!

In all honesty, I didn't know we had a piloting job open, either. All thoughts come to a screeching halt as I read that last sentence. Push yourself? Push myself?! I was in the same program as him! I graduated fifth in my class! He's acting like it sounded impossible for me to get the job in the first place. I mean, sure. I was nervous. But isn't anyone when they need to get a job or pay the bills? This was my last ditch effort into doing something I loved for a cause I loved. Pushing myself. I'll push him somewhere… Suddenly, the texts continue.

Have you celebrated yet?

I mean, the job.

Getting the job.

I mean, you celebrate everything else alone, so I don't know where the line would be between celebration and just being happy

What kind of question is that? I honestly don't even know how to respond without enabling his creepy factor, so I just say something else

Don't you have a data plan? What's with the multiple messages?

This one takes ten minutes. And what a beautiful ten minutes those were. I almost thought he forgot about me. I shouldn't have celebrated my escape so soon

Oh. Sorry about that! XD lol though. But anyways, what I was saying is that because I doubt you celebrated your new job and you really deserve to, why don't we celebrate it together alone? I mean, not that I'm guilting you or anything, but I AM the person who told you about the job offering. Well, I told you about the techie offer, but you probably wouldn't have heard about the pilot job if I hadn't told you, so you kind of owe it to me, right? I mean, I'm not forcing you. What kind of weirdo would do that? I'm just saying that it was more of a joint effort, and because of a joint effort, it calls for a joint celebration. So?

In all honesty, I don't even know how much of that I understand. I read it over. And over. Eventually, I come to the conclusion that he's asking me out on a date. And there's the problem. I've always been blunt with the guy. I had to be blunt with everyone just so they'd take me seriously during training. But here's the thing: I unbelievably want to say no. I want to tell him he's a creep and that he had no part in my success, because the only reason I am successful is that I try my hardest even when I'm scared out of my mind. I persevere. However, if I reject him like that, I don't know what will happen. Sloan is pretty high up on the scale, especially the closer he gets to graduating. I just don't know how he will react. Would an adult accept it and move on? Sure. Is Sloan an adult? Technically. But does he always act like one? I don't really think so. Now that I'm gone, who knows what he could pin on me, or say about me now that I'm gone.

Thanks for the offer, Sloan. But I've been busy with the new job lately. Putting in extra hours just so I can get a feel for the place.

This one takes the longest to reply. So long, the end of lunch bell rings. I get a text as I'm walking back to the Aviation Unit.

Oh. I mean. Okay! Sure! I understand! You want to get some work in so you can prove that even though you were kicked out of your last job opportunity, you're not incompetent. Don't worry, Char, I got you bae. Don't worry! Just text me whenever you know you have free time.I can keep checking up on you in case you need tips or pointers or just to be reminded to look out for free time. :D We could go to the outlook or the local Greek place or maybe bowling! I could show you my ice skating skills and maybe give you some pointers! You will text me when you have free time, right?

Oh dear god. He's permanently writing essays now. What have I done? I can't let this go on. I've grown used to not seeing him, and being introduced back to his presence makes me feel nauseous. I've had enough of him for one day. I want to say more. 'No, I will not text you. No, I am not your Bae. Don't call me Charlotte.'

Yep

There. It's done. I shut the phone off once it sends and shove it in my purse. I won't be looking at it for the rest of the day. Not until I get home. If I can get in my home.

Spencer's P.O.V.

When I get to work, most of the people aren't there yet. I'm not shocked, it's what I'm used to. I set my things down at my desk and begin reading a paper that I picked up on my way in. Garcia walks by in the little sprite-like manner she always has in the office. And in the mornings. And, now that I think about it, always.

"Hello, my fantastic Dr. Reid!" She chirps, a stack of files cradled in one arm and a cup of coffee held firmly in the other.

"Morning, Garcia." I say. I sip my own coffee and watch as my colleagues begin to file in one by one. First Hotchner, then Emily, then Derek, then Rossi. JJ showed up at some point, but I don't exactly know when.

Hotch eventually calls us in for a meeting to discuss the next case. We collectively end what conversations we were having about our respective weekends and ascend the stairs to see what the new case was.

JJ begins explaining the case "We won't be traveling far for this one, but that doesn't make it any less serious. What we're dealing with is a string of child abduction cases first all thought to be individual incidents. That all changed this morning when all of the families whose children went missing each received a package, every one with an identical note inside." Hotch nods to something that comes up on the big screen and continues.

"They all read that their child has been strapped to a time bomb and hidden in a random area of the city, and if this man is not wired 100,000 dollars from each family by the end of the week, all of the bombs will go off."

"Are the families related in any way?" I ask.

"Not that we know as of now. We are set to speak to each of the families later in the week." Hotch answers, looking coldly at the file in his hands.

"How many families received the note?" I ask. He takes a few moments to answer.

"Four."

I sigh. I hate cases with children. I love them when we solve them and save someone, but I hate getting them. If a day came when we never saw another child abduction case ever again, I would be the happiest man in D.C. Well, maybe besides Hotch. Hotch always has been a little bit uncomfortable during the children abduction cases. Well, ever since Jack came into the world, which is almost as long as I've known him. I make a few notes in my notepad and start skimming over the files. We don't have a plane ride to take, so I'll get as much reading done in as little time as I can before we have to talk to the families. I make a note to write a letter to my mom tonight. That's another thing I hate about children's cases. It means I have to lie to my mother.

Charlotte's P.O.V.

Shonda holds me after work is over for a while so we could talk about the dynamic, what I'll need to know, and when I'll begin flying. She told me when I begin flying, I'll begin flying with one of the elder members of the Aviation Unit. She mentioned someone called Captain Berkeley, but she didn't sound happy to say so. After a quick talk, she sent me on my way and told me to get some sleep. Tomorrow I'd be checking out the planes.

I was kind of happy to get home. The ride home was nice, though. It felt good to be going home with a bunch of other people how had jobs and salaries and whatnot. It reminded me that I also had one of each and… I don't know. At least I'm not a techie. It just kind of hit me that I was no longer unemployed and that this, right here, this was my routine now. I might see these people multiple times in a month. Probably not these exact ones, considering the fact that I had to stay even later than regular Aviation Unit employees did today.

By the time I get home, the happy feeling lasts until I realize that I have to walk up five flights of stairs, at least one of them covered in oil, to get to my apartment. I tread carefully on the first four, but I don't necessarily slow my pace. It is only when I inspect the last flight carefully that I find that it has been cleaned. I start walking up to my apartment, slowly. When I step off the last stair, I know I'm fine. I walk out the stairwell and down the hall. Before I get into my apartment, I find Chewy outside of my door, standing on my welcome mat. All of the keys attached to him are neatly tucked underneath. I smile. With where he's standing on the mat, it almost seems like he's saying "Welcome Home, Charlotte!" In his little Wookie voice. I grab the keys and chuckle.

Thanks bud.

Spencer's P.O.V.

After work, I head home. We're a little closer to finding the unsub, but not much. All we have for leads is a set of companies that worked in tandem with each company that the fathers of the children worked at. Sadly, the list consists of over 20 companies, each with hundreds of employees. There's that, and each of the fathers were on different positions of importance, ranging from accountant to vice president. But, the day is done. I'll go back tomorrow and I'll work extra hard. Now, I need rest. Not to say that I'm not going to work on this as hard as I can, but it's important to take breaks. Thomas Edison took breaks on a cot that he placed in his work space. Me? I write to my mother.

To Diana Reid

Vegas Regional Mental Health Care Institution

157 Cresthill Rd. Las Vegas, NV

Dear Mom,

I apologize if this letter is short. Hotch had us do a lot of boring paperwork kind of stuff today. Mandatory and benign, but altogether unnecessary. I decided to stay after work and get more work done. I hope you're having a good week. I put your typography on the wall and I look at it every day. It really is your best work yet. I had Indian food for lunch today. We had JJ get our lunches and we all ate in a circle. Garia tried feeding everyone sushi, but Derek and I were the only people who would actually try it. Honestly, I think this is something I needed after the last case. That last case was pretty stressful, even for the things that I do. I wish everyone in Vegas Regional that I wish them a Happy Halloween, or at least a happy fall. My pumpkin this year was my largest yet. Like in the beginning of the Charlie Brown Halloween special. Like the ones we used to make. I couldn't stop smiling when I found it. I hope you're reading the book I sent you. The ending is just phenomenal.

I'll love you forever and ever and always,

Spencer.